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Mount Lowe Railway & Echo
Mountain Resort
Considered to be
the Disneyland of its day, the mountain resort on Echo Mountain served by the
Mount Lowe Scenic Railway was one of the most popular tourist attractions in
turn-of-the-century Southern California. Entrepreneur T.S.C. Lowe built the
railway that operated from 1893 to 1937. The narrow-gauge railway was
electrically operated and carried as many as 1,500 people in one day. Tourists
first rode a trolley from Altadena to Rubio Canyon. There they transferred to a
cable car* that steeply ascended Echo Mountain. Passengers then transferred back
to a trolley that traversed hairpin curves on its way to the base of Mt. Lowe.
This trip
provided spectacular views of the Los Angeles Basin. At the base of Mt.
Lowe, tourists found quality hotel lodging, fine dining, a casino, gardens, an
observatory, a small zoo and horseback riding. By the late 1930s, however, the facilities
had declined in use and condition and were closed. All that remains are hiking
trails and some of the ruins of the original structures. Some 3.1 million
passengers from all over the world rode the railway in its 44 years of
operation.
*Built by Andrew Hallidie, builder
of the cable cars of San Francisco.
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